Thursday, March 3, 2016

I've been quite busy lately but I'm still alive and, mostly, binding books these days. I'm afraid there aren't a lot of new fountain pens to show though I've acquired some, mainly demonstrators -. some TWSBIs and an Asa Galactic!

Working with my hands brings me more joy these days though. It also keeps me quite busy as it's complex stuff. Still no perfect specimen in sight!

Who knew that Carta Fiorentina is made in a variety of color ranges, like these autumnal shades of brown and yellow?

These endpapers are french marble with gold print. They remind me of lava veins.

I'm learning to make silk headbands. This has been one of the first ones. They are made by wrapping and typing silk threads over a core.

I choose the colors to match the cover. Luckily buttonhole silk is available in a myriad of colors and rather inexpensive. I bought a mixed lot off eBay.

The book block is held within the press so both hands are free for sewing.

The core can be vellum, leather, paper or a combination of those.

The finished headband. It's been a few weeks since I made this one and looking at it makes me cringe, my recent ones are much neater. Practice helps, as always.

Headbands in their natural habitat, ie the finished books. I really like the wide range of colors and designs that's possible. Ready made headbands frequently aren't a perfect match color wise.

Finally, a book! This is what it's supposed to be all about, right?
It's a small book, smaller than DIN A6, filled with about 400 pages of Tomoe River paper. I'm really having trouble with this paper, it's so flimsy and slippery!
The cover is terracotta colored Oasis goatskin and French marble.

Some more Carta Fiorentina with a dark brown goatskin spine.

Grey goatskin and French marble. This one turned out really well and makes me think I'm on the right track. The "getting there" part will take me a few years though.

Of course all of these books feature some kind of fountain pen friendly paper and I'm looking into options to purchase some larger quantities, maybe even some really nice paper like pure cotton which I'm a huge fan of.